Chino, Calif. - July 20, 2009 - The eighth round of the AMA Superbike championship was a tough one for the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki team. Series leader Mat Mladin (#7) couldn’t quite hit the right bike set-up throughout the weekend, but the six-time champion was able to secure two consistent finishes, maintaining his huge lead at the top of the points lead. Teammate Tommy Hayden (#22) showed great speed early on and used the momentum to score a sixth and third place finish, while rookie Blake Young (#79) continued to impress the paddock with two strong finishes.

Qualifying saw Tommy Hayden as the top Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki, posting the fourth-fastest time. Blake Young was next, starting sixth, while Mladin clocked ninth-fastest. As Saturday’s race started, though, Young and Hayden, were up front and Mladin, was charging from his uncharacteristic third row start. After a race long battle, Mladin finished on the podium in third, while Hayden and Young finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

"We couldn't do it today and that was it,” said Mladin. “Obviously it would have made it easier to be a little bit closer on the start. That's the way it goes, we just didn't have the pace today.”

Sunday’s race saw Tommy Hayden as the top finishing Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki. Hayden secured the holeshot, but couldn’t hold on to the top spot. He never lost track of the leaders though, and was challenging for second-place throughout the race. Behind him was teammate Blake Young, who was challenging for a podium position. Mladin had what he described simply as a “tough day”, and finished in seventh.

Mladin still holds a commanding championship points lead over Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki teammate Tommy Hayden, 390-264. The next round of the series is July 31-August 2 at the new Heartland Park circuit in Topeka, Kansas.